Authorities rule out foul play in police custody death in south

Authorities rule out foul play in police custody death inS China

BAISE, Guangxi, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in south China have ruled out foul play in the death in police custody of a man suspected of running an illegal gambling operation.

Communist Party of China officials in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region confirmed Thursday they had no evidence that force was involved in the death of Huang Jinshui, who died after falling from a fourth floor window.

They also ruled out suspicions that extortion or blackmail being involved in his death.

Officials from the Baise City Party Committee called a press conference late Wednesday to announce the findings of an investigation into the death of Huang, 46.

The press conference lasted for 10 minutes and was attended by journalists from several media organizations, relatives of Huang, including his sister, He Jinfang, and deputies of Tianlin County People's Congress and members of Tianlin County Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

A Baise publicity official surnamed Wang said at the conference that Huang died of severe internal injuries caused by a fall from the fourth floor of the police bureau building.

He cited an autopsy report produced by a joint investigative group comprising Guangxi autonomous regional government officials, and prosecutors from Baise City Procuratorate and medical specialists.

Huang, a native of Tianlin County in Guangxi, had allegedly operated a casino known as "Xinxing Playroom".

Acting on tip-offs, police raided Xinxing Playroom on Friday, seizing 61 gambling machines and other items, including three home-made guns, and detaining 24 suspected gamblers. The police also detained three alleged casino managers the same day.

However, police did not detain Huang until early Sunday, when they took him to Baise City Security Bureau. His relatives were informed of his death later that day.

Wang said Huang went to the toilet on the fourth floor during his interrogation on the third floor at about 4 a.m. Sunday. He fell from the toilet window.

Wang would answer no other questions on Huang's death.

Phone calls to He Jinfang's cell phone went unanswered.

15 trapped in SW China coal mine flooding

Rescuers wait outside the Xinqiao coal
mine in Qinglong County in southwest China's Guizhou Province, June 18,
2009. Fifteen miners were trapped after a flooding occurred at around 4
p.m. June 17 at the Xinqiao coal mine in Qinglong County, when 30 people
were working underground. Rescue work is continuing, and cause of the
accident is being investigated. (Xinhua/Huang Yong)
Photo Gallery

GUIYANG, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The number of miners
trapped in a flooded southwest China coal mine has risen to 15, said work safety
authorities Thursday.

The flooding occurred at around 4 p.m. Wednesday at
the Xinqiao coal mine in Qinglong County, Guizhou Province, when 30 people were
working underground, said an official with the Guizhou Provincial Work Safety
Administration.

Fifteen escaped unharmed.

Rescuers carry a pumping machine to the
Xinqiao coal mine in Qinglong County in southwest China's Guizhou
Province, June 18, 2009. (Xinhua/Huang Yong)
Photo Gallery

Rescuers said the volume of floodwater was estimated
at 1,000 to 3,000 cubic meters.

Rescue work is continuing, and cause of the accident
is being investigated.

The mine has a designed capacity of 150,000 tonnes.

Eastern Chinese province exposes official's jobs-for-money network

HEFEI, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese prosecutors have untangled a
jobs-for-money network run by a corrupt official in Chaohu City in east Anhui
Province, which led to the dismissal of 14 officials.

Zhou Guangquan, the former Communist Party secretary of Chaohu city, was
accused of accepting bribes worth 5 million yuan (about 735,000 U.S dollars) on
June 3.

Prosecutors then discovered that among the 36 people who bribed Zhou when
he was secretary of the Communist Party of China Chaohu City Committee from 2000
to 2004, 19 were government officials.

The 19 officials were promoted after giving Zhou bribes. Zhou was also
charged with failing to account for the sources of his 3 million yuan of
property. The Anqing City Intermediate People's Court has yet to announce the
verdict.

Among the 19 officials, 14 were removed from their posts ranging from vice
mayor of Chaohu to deputy director of Chaohu city Public Security Bureau.

Dai Longshen, the sacked deputy director of the public security bureau,
told a Xinhua reporter that he sometimes gave Zhou cash out of "brother-like
respect".

However, prosecutors discovered that from 1995 to 2008, Dai gave 46,000
yuan in total to Zhou. He got two promotions with the help of Zhou in 2000 and
2002 as payback.

A network composed of entrepreneurs and officials emerged after Zhou stood
trial. The feature of the network was the exchange of money for personal gains.

Chinese disciplinary organs have punished 2,386 officials at or above
prefectural level for their misconduct from July 2003 to December 2008,
according to the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for
Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

Other 29,905 officials at county level were also punished during the same
period, the CCDI said.

Transnational software pirating case adjudged in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Nine gang members involving an international software counterfeiting scheme valued at more than 80 million yuan (11.7 million U.S. dollars) have gotten different jail terms in the last instance at the Shanghai Municipal Higher People's Court, the court confirmed Thursday.

The court sentenced the main perpetrator, Shanghai native Ma Jingyi (formerly named Ma Kepei), to seven years in jail and fined him 8.6 million yuan on Wednesday. Ma was also deprived of his political right for one year. Other gang members have received sentences of two to six years in jail.

The Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau told Xinhua that the software counterfeiting scheme was cracked down upon joint investigations by the bureau, police in southern China's Guangdong Province and their counterparts in the United States. Their joint campaign, dubbed Summer Solstice, began 2005 and lasted 17 months. The gang members were arrested in July 2007.

The gang's software counterfeiting activities happened over the past five years and involved five countries, namely China, the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia, the bureau said.

According to Thursday's China Daily, from 2003 to 2007, the gang, led by Ma, sold 677,000 copies of pirated computer software to U.S. companies and individuals for 10.48 million U.S. dollars. The gang's profit was more than 80 million yuan.

The illegally copied and distributed software was mostly an anti-virus program from Symantec.

Ma's gang, which oversaw the production of 442,000 copies of the pirated program, was convicted of infringing copyright.

Ma sold the pirated version for 15 U.S. dollar, while the authorized version cost about 39 dollars.

24 scammers lose appeal, back in jail

BEIJING, June 18 -- Twenty-four people have lost a high court appeal over
their involvement in one of the country's largest pyramid schemes, in which more
than 20,000 people were defrauded of 1.68 billion yuan ($246 million).

The criminal mastermind, Zhao Pengyun, 37, from Shenyang, Liaoning province
was jailed for 15 years and fined more than 300 million yuan after the Beijing
municipal high people's court yesterday upheld a March ruling by the Beijing
municipal No.2 intermediate people's court.

He was found guilty of illegal management for organizing the scheme that
promised victims high returns for investment in forestland.

Four of the 28 defendants had criminal sentences quashed or reduced after
they handed over information about the syndicate's activities or returned large
amounts of illicit money, the high court announced.

Zhao's 23 criminal associates received sentences between 1 and 15 years and
fines between 200,000 and 70 million yuan.

The Yilin Wood Company, which Zhao established with a criminal associate in
April 2004, collected about 1.68 billion yuan in revenue until it was reported
to police in May 2005. Most of the cash was spent on luxury items like houses,
cars, jewelry and antiques.

Authorities yesterday said they would trace any remaining assets in order
to compensate victims, who come from 11 provinces and municipalities, including
more than 16,000 people in Beijing.

In an advertisement for the scheme, victims were told that if they invested
55,500 yuan in a 1 ha forest plot they would receive 228,000 yuan within seven
years. That this was in-line with the plot's rising value and represented a 58.7
percent annual rate of return, the scammers said. Victims who bought a lot of
forestland were promised sales representative positions and entry into the
pyramid scheme.

If they then sold 2 ha of forestland, the sales representatives were
promised a promotion to sales manager. Four levels were included in the scheme
and the more senior the position, the more money the person stood to make. The
company signed contracts to buy more than 64,400 ha of forest and sold more than
28,200 ha until May 2005.

The court was told that five high-level managers received more than 10
million yuan and 18 senior managers were paid more than 1 million yuan in
commission. Huang Jinhui, training center senior manager, received more than 50
million yuan in commission over two years.

Meanwhile, the Beijing Lawyers Association said it would handle liquidation
of the forestland ahead any of compensation payouts for victims. They have
established registration offices in Beijing, Chongqing, Shenyang, Shanghai and
Guangzhou to receive victims and verify documents including purchase contracts
and receipts.

Qiu Baochang, dean of the Beijing-based Huijia law firm, said that in cases
of illegal fundraising, the most important effort for authorities is to retrieve
as much of the lost money as possible, and always punish the perpetrators
severely.

"Cases involving pyramid schemes must be handled in a way that promotes
social stability, as they often involve a large number of people and a lot of
money," Qiu told China Daily.

(Source: China Daily)